Sabine Meyer's Mozart: Recovering the Lost Low Notes

An Extended Range for Stadler

Mozart wrote his Clarinet Concerto, K.622, for Anton Stadler in 1791. He had previously written the Clarinet Quintet, K.581, for him too. The quintet combines four string instruments with a clarinet, while the concerto uses an orchestra and a solo clarinet. Stadler received parts designed for playing with a small group of string players in chamber music and for appearing as a soloist in front of a larger ensemble in the concerto. Using the same musician's instrument in two kinds of ensemble, Mozart wrote music in which clarinet and strings played together.

Stadler's clarinet had four additional notes below low E: E flat, D, C sharp and C. Extending the range for Stadler allowed the soloist to play lower notes than before. Today the instrument is called a basset clarinet. It can descend four semitones below the ordinary clarinet's lowest note, allowing the composer to write melodies in that register. Playing a low C in the score requires an instrument capable of producing it. These four notes are directly relevant to the differences between the original solo part and the later printed editions.

The early autograph fragment begins as music for a basset horn in G. As Mozart continued the fragment, he intended to change the solo instrument to a basset clarinet in A, and traces of that change remain in the manuscript. There were revisions between the initial conception for basset horn and the completed A major concerto. The fragment preserves notes in the composer's own hand. It is one of the materials editors use when studying the solo part of a concerto whose completed full score has been lost, and records the process of choosing one instrument and then changing it.

The Early Editions and an 1802 Review

Around 1801–1802, three publishers issued parts for this concerto. All three editions removed the basset register and supplied a solo part for the ordinary clarinet. A work written for Stadler's extended instrument was adapted to be played on one with a shorter range. Musicians wishing to perform the concerto after Mozart's death could use these printed scores. As the composition was printed and passed on, it circulated with a solo part in which the low notes had been moved to another register.

In 1802, a reviewer wrote that the concerto had been composed for a clarinet able to reach low C. The reviewer pointed out that several passages in the published solo part should be played an octave lower and also mentioned alterations in the Adagio. This review is contemporary testimony that can be consulted when restoring the low notes and preparing a new score. A critic reading the early printed edition was already aware of the difference between the original instrument's range and the printed solo part. Editors today compare that score with these observations to examine where the pitches were changed.

Each surviving item conveys something different. The autograph fragment records Mozart's writing and revisions; the posthumous editions contain the solo part playable on an ordinary clarinet. The contemporary review describes an instrument descending to low C and passages that had been altered. Scores have now been published that also include reproductions of the autograph fragment and the period review. They allow performers to read the newly printed notes while examining the old material used in editing them. Bringing documents from different periods into one edition explains how the solo part was transmitted.

Meyer's Choice of Basset Clarinet

Sabine Meyer's recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Hans Vonk explicitly identifies her instrument as a basset clarinet. She chose an instrument with four additional notes below low E. It allowed her to play low passages at pitches that an ordinary clarinet cannot produce. Meyer recorded the concerto written for Stadler using a modern instrument with an extended range. With the Staatskapelle Dresden playing the orchestral music and Vonk conducting, she took the solo part that uses the low register Mozart had written for Stadler.

Meyer spoke of both the work's simplicity and its deep emotion, likening it to religion. This was the performer's own account of how she understood the concerto. Having chosen a basset clarinet to recover the low notes, she also put into words the feelings the work aroused in her. The basset clarinet she chose is an instrument capable of playing those notes; the simplicity she described is her assessment of the composition's character. Her choice involved both finding an instrument suited to the solo part's range and considering the expression of the work she would play on it.

The second movement, Adagio, has an A–B–A form, in which the opening theme returns after a middle section. The initial melody is followed by a contrasting middle passage, then the same theme is played again. The solo melody is introduced, the music moves to another section and then returns to what came before. An orchestra plays alongside the soloist. The instrumentation includes flutes, bassoons, horns and strings. In this slow movement too, the score distinguishes passages in which the soloist carries the melody alone from those shared with the orchestra.

From Orchestral Player to Soloist

Karajan sought to appoint Meyer to the Berlin Philharmonic, and the orchestra's players opposed the appointment. The two sides disagreed over whether the orchestra would accept the musician chosen by its conductor. His judgement in selecting her differed from that of the players who would work alongside her. Known as a concerto soloist, Meyer also worked as an orchestral clarinettist. Within an orchestra, she had to blend her sound with other wind and string instruments and play her part alongside those of her colleagues. Her recruitment involved a disagreement between conductor and players over how a musician should be selected.

Meyer studied with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and Hans Deinzer in Hanover. After working with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, she expanded her career as a concerto soloist. She performed with different orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra. A musician who had played the clarinet part within one ensemble went on to perform solo parts with various conductors and orchestras. Her Mozart recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Hans Vonk was one of these collaborations.

Alongside her solo career, she continued playing chamber music with members of her family. In 1983, Meyer formed Trio di Clarone with her husband Reiner Wehle and her older brother Wolfgang Meyer. They performed lesser-known Mozart works as well as contemporary music, and also prepared new performances with jazz clarinettist Michael Riessler. A soloist who played concertos in front of an orchestra formed a small ensemble with two close colleagues. Mozart and contemporary composers shared the repertoire of this chamber group.

Modern Editions Offering Two Solo Parts

Some modern editions provide solo parts for both basset clarinet and ordinary clarinet. Performers can choose the part suited to their instrument. Such editions offer two solo parts for the same concerto, together with the autograph fragment and the 1802 review. They bring together the basis for reconstructing the low notes and the performing score transmitted for the ordinary instrument. One part restores the original range; the other allows performance on an instrument with a more limited range.

Several composers have written new music for Meyer. She has performed works by Jean Françaix, Edison Denisov, Toshio Hosokawa and Péter Eötvös. Alongside Mozart's solo part reconstructed from surviving historical material, she prepared music newly written for her instrument. As Mozart composed for Stadler's instrument, later composers also collaborated with a particular performer. Meyer's concerts included both an already published concerto and compositions written for her by composers of her own time.

In the autumn of 1791, Stadler took part in the Prague premiere of Mozart's opera La clemenza di Tito. The instrumental solos in two arias used basset clarinet and basset horn. Mozart wrote for Stadler's instruments to play alongside the opera's singers. In the concerto of the same year, he placed Stadler in front of an orchestra as the soloist. Both in accompanying singers and in playing an instrumental concerto, he used the extended range of the instruments. Music written for the low notes Stadler could produce thus survives in both the opera and the concerto's solo part.

Listening at Mahina

The Adagio from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto that we play at Mahina is performed by Sabine Meyer. When you hear it again, listen to the clarinet's low notes as well as its melody. They offer a way to hear the range Mozart wrote for Stadler's instrument.